Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2012

The intimate Hara Museum in Shinagawa has provided the launchpad for a number of influential Japanese artists. The next in its “Hara Documents” series of emerging artists’ exhibitions just might do the same for painter Masako Ando. A student with the same teacher that taught the acclaimed Yoshitomo Nara, Ando also shares his obsession with the secret lives of children. “The Garden of Belly Button” presents 17 of her meticulously worked oil paintings and pencil drawings, many of them exhibited for the first time.

Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, until Aug 19 (listing).